GE’s wastewater treatment technology is now in use at the largest membrane bioreactor (MBR) facility in the state of Utah, providing reliable treatment of wastewater that exceeds current regulatory effluent discharge requirements.

Nov 07, 2012

The Jordan Basin Water Reclamation Facility (JBWRF), a state-of-the-art MBR wastewater treatment facility in the South Valley Sewer District, recently was commissioned and is operating using GE’s ZeeWeed 500 ultrafiltration membranes in its process building.

As part of the wastewater treatment process, GE’s membrane filtration system separates the clean water from the solids in the wastewater. There are various pumping systems also located in the process building that are associated with the treatment and filtration processes as well as high-speed turbo-blowers that provide the air required to operate the membrane filtration system.

Using MBR technology from GE, the JBWRF was able to significantly reduce its site footprint, compared to conventional wastewater treatment technologies, by eliminating the need for secondary clarifiers. Additionally, the ZeeWeed membranes from GE will help the facility meet future nutrient removal and water reuse standards.

The JBWRF, owned and operated by the South Valley Sewer District, has a current treatment capacity of 15 million gallons a day (mgd) and is designed to be expanded in the future to an ultimate capacity of 30 mgd in order to meet the community’s growth demands.

“The Jordan Basin facility will continue to see the benefits of installing GE’s MBR technology at their site for many years to come because the GE technology allows for easy expansion,” said Yuvbir Singh, general manager, engineered systems—water and process technologies for GE Power & Water. “By using GE’s ZeeWeed technology, the facility also will be able to treat wastewater that will be clean enough to be discharged, meeting stringent regulatory standards.”

The South Valley Sewer District provides wastewater collection and treatment service to an area of approximately 108 square miles in south Salt Lake County and north Utah County. A 3.25-acre wetland area was constructed north of the treatment facility to mitigate areas affected by the construction project. The wetland will be maintained by the district using treated water from the Jordan Basin facility.